With the reception hall booked in Hubballi, families gathered, and rituals scheduled, the guests took their seats at the venue. The only persons missing were newlyweds Sangam Das and Medha Ksheerasagar.The couple finally showed up – via video link from Bhubaneswar. They went through the motions on screen in all their wedding finery, completing the event. Medha’s parents sat in the chairs meant for the couple at the venue – a standout moment that stayed with the guests and became another face of the IndiGo fiasco.Bhubaneswar’s Sangam and Medha, who work in Bengaluru, got married on Nov 23 and had a grand reception lined up in Hubballi. The couple had taken tickets from Bhubaneswar to Bengaluru and onward to Hubballi for Dec 2. Tickets for several relatives were also booked for the same day.Then the trouble started. Family members said IndiGo staff kept telling them the flight was “delayed”, beginning 9am on Dec 2 and continuing late into the night. Finally, on the morning of Dec 3 – just hours before the reception – the airline informed the passengers that the flight had been cancelled. With no alternative travel arrangement possible at such short notice, the bride and groom got stuck in Bhubaneswar. “…If IndiGo had informed us earlier, we could have made other arrangements. Because they did not provide timely information, the reception had to be held online,” Medha’s father Anil Kumar told TOI.The couple apologised to the guests with folded hands for not being able to attend the reception in Hubballi in person and thanked them profusely for making the best of the moment despite the disruption.Medha’s father stressed the reception could have proceeded as planned had the airline acted in time. “Because they didn’t provide proper information, we had no option,” Kumar said.
